Sense and Nonsensibility: Lampoons of Learning and Literature - Couverture souple

Douglas, Lawrence

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0743260481 ISBN 13 : 9780743260480

Editeur : Gallery Books, 2004

Synopsis

Two widely published humor columnists and "bad boys" of academia take their wit and wisdom to dazzling new lows in this irreverent send-up of highbrow literary culture.

At last, the thinking person's take on the life of the mind in today's increasingly mindless age. Sense and Nonsensibility pokes fun at everyone from spoof-proof scholars to pompous professors; from anal-retentive authors to plagiarizing poets; from snake-oil therapists to bestselling illiterati.
This singular collection by Professors Lawrence Douglas and Alexander George brings together their most popular pieces, along with many brand-new ones, including:

• The Academy Awards for novels -- with categories for "Best Female Protagonist -- Doomed," "Best Narrator -- Unreliable," and "Best Novel -- Unfinishable by Reader"
• Home Shopping University -- offering the greatest ideas in Western history at rock-bottom prices
• I'm Okay, I'm Okay: Accepting Narcissism -- the best in "Self-helplessness books"
• The Penis Orations -- Iron Man's answer to The Vagina Monologues
• "Ask the Academic Ethicist" -- their notorious advice column, which has shocked higher education

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Lawrence Douglas is a professor of law and jurisprudence at Amherst College. He is the author of several scholarly books, including Will He Go? and The Right Wrong Man. He has also authored several novels and parody books, including The Catastrophist and The Vices. His writing has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Extrait. © Reproduit sur autorisation. Tous droits réservés.

Introduction

This book is for people who, like ourselves, believe in culture -- in its existence and commercial value. It is for people who still believe in the "canon," that great body of learning and literature that has guided study and cultural debate for the last couple of thousand years. The canon has come under fire recently as the tired legacy of a small clique of dead white European males, most of whom rarely bathed and suffered from terrible gum disease. This is a book for those who disagree, those who strongly believe that Hegel remains as incomprehensible today as he was two centuries ago, and that Shakespeare is still as rewarding and relevant as SpongeBob.

This is also a book for scholars, students, and all those who have chosen to dedicate their existence to intellectual pursuits in a deeply anti-intellectual age. As professors writing about the rewards of learning, we hope to show that there is more to life than generous remuneration, social prestige, political power, erotic adventure, and basic happiness.

And yet, this is a book of modest ambition. Long ago we realized that we could not single-handedly reverse civilization's inexorable decline. We could, though, contribute to it. This is the path we have chosen. If we cannot revive the life of the mind from its increasingly vegetative state, then at least we could put a smile on the patient's face.

Copyright © 2004 by Lawrence Douglas and Alexander George

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Gallery Books
• Date d'édition: 2004
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0743260481
• ISBN 13: 9780743260480
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 192
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV, GPSR Europäische Union; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; AA Utrecht; 3584; Pays-Bas